POWER BEAMING TO ENERGY STORAGE AIRSHIPS A Presentation for the 19th Annual Directed Energy Symposium By Les Johnson and Daniel O’Neil
February 2017
DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited Airships Will Fill a Void in the Cargo Delivery Market
“We really do have a very large need for a better system of lifting bigger pieces and bigger sizes that you can’t fit into an airplane door, into all kinds of places … A lot of places around the world are inaccessible.”
- Barry E. Prentice, professor in the department of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba’s I.H. Asper School of Business
Since trains, trucks, and cargo boats can’t reach many parts of the world, Prentice predicts airships will come to fill that void. And he says it would happen even sooner if world economies were “more serious” about climate change. https://www.inverse.com/article/14312-how-airships-like-the-airlander-10-could-replace-cargo-planes-in-just-years Companies are Buying Airships
Lockheed Martin strikes $480M deal to sell airships Wednesday, 30 Mar 2016 | 5:39 AM ET
Lockheed Martin has landed its first contract for the hybrid airship it created inside its top secret Skunk Works division. In a deal valued at $480 million, Straightline Aviation (SLA) has signed a letter of intent to purchase 12 of the heavier-than-air airships that measure nearly a football field long. First delivery is scheduled for 2018, with the final airship expected no later than 2021. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/29/lockheed-has-liftoff-sells-new-airships-in-480m-deal.html Cargo Delivery Air Ships Are not your parents’ blimp Hybrid Air Vehicle (HAV) • Airlander 10 made its maiden voyage August 17, 2016 92 x 43.5 x 26 m (302 x 143 x 85 ft) • Manned: aloft for five days Payload: 10,000 kg (22,050 lb) • Unmanned: aloft for two weeks • Four 325-hp (242-kW), turbocharged diesel engines • Applications: Communication, Cargo transport, & Surveying http://newatlas.com/airlander-10-first-flight/44956/ https://www.hybridairvehicles.com/aircraft/airlander-10
Current GZ-20A Blimp New Zeppelin NT Length 192′ 246.4′ Maximum Width 50′ 64.79 Envelope Volume 202,700 cubic feet 297,527 cubic feet Maximum Speed 50 miles per hour 73 miles per hour http://www.airships.net/goodyear-blimp/ Lockheed Martin’s
Available in 2018 Capacity • 10’ x 10’ x 60’ cargo bay • Flexible, customizable • Roll-On Roll-Off, CAT D6, ATCO trailer • Up to 44,000 lbs of payload • Up to 19 passengers • 5,000 gallon cargo fuel tanks built-in http://hybridhe.com/hybrid-airship/hybrid-airship- advantages/built-cargo/
A Potential Application: Humanitarian Assistance
http://hybridhe.com/hybrid-airship/hybrid-airship-advantages/humanitarian-assistance/ Ambri Liquid Metal Battery
$11M from ARPA-E & Total “Beta Core” Lab-based System (French oil co.) 20KWH 2MWH The 2MWH system 2009 2011 2016 2018 2020? Is intended for the Power Grid. $15M 500KWH from Khosla Additional $25M from Bill Gates, Ventures KLP Enterprises, and Building Insurance Bern (GVB) https://www.technologyreview.com/s/511081/ambris-better-grid-battery/ https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Ambri-Returns-to-The-Energy-Storage-Hunt-With-Liquid-Metal-Battery-Redesign http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1497163/26853855/1455290007250/ambri_brochure_feb16.pdf?token=9Bw9RuK2Wpj1i5A9Te CJoNIZzGE%3D Air Ship with Rectenna and Eight Mg-Sb Liquid Metal Batteries Overall Dimensions: Payload Deck Space: - Length: 770 feet - Length: 380 feet - Width: 296 feet - Width: 61 feet - Height: 183 feet ML 868 - Height: 45 feet • Assume 210mx80m = 16,800 sq.meters Available for a rectenna. A Future Airship Payload: 250 tons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_Aeros_Corp • If only one third were usable at any point during the satellite passing overhead the usable area is 5,600 sq.meters Liquid Metal Battery Assume 8,000 kg available 2 MW*hrs • With one sun energy flux of 1kW/m^2, Capacity of one container in each Liquid Metal Battery (Can serve 200 households) the rectenna could receive 5.6 MW Container 8 Liquid Metal Battery • If the line-of-time of a MEO SSP satellite were Containers 16 MW*hrs one hour, 2.8 batteries could be charged and four orbits could charge eight batteries. • http://www.ted.com/talks/donald_sadoway_the_missing_link_to_renewable_energy?language=en 7 ft • http://www.ambri.com/technology/
40 ft 24.5ft
162 ft Three Generations of the Airship with Liquid Metal Batteries
Customers Conceptual Design Benefits • Disaster relief agencies • A moving receiver enables a lower orbit • Emerging nations • A lower orbit reduces system & launch cost • Military logistics trains • Molten metal, in batteries, need the heat • Explorers of oceans, deserts and jungles • Three generations provide early revenue • Outdoor venues for huge week-long events • Mobile infrastructure enables swift response to large power needs
“Milk-runs” Solar powered airship and sustained heat Beamed power for a long-duration global fleet Power Beaming to a Model Airplane
• In 2002 and 2003, a team Marshall Space Flight Center and Dryden Flight Research Center demonstrated power beaming to a radio controlled model aircraft • The 2002 demo involved manually directed spotlight that illuminated a solar panel, which powered a six watt motor in a model airplane that flew inside of a building • The 2003 demo involved a 1KW laser that transmitted power to a rotorcraft that operated along guide wires. • Attempts to power model airplane at the Redstone Arsenal Laser range were unsuccessful due to gusty winds http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-087-DFRC.html Power Beaming Demonstration
In 2008, John Mankins and Prof. Nobuyuki Kaya of Kobe University beamed 20 watts with an array of eight transmitters on top of the volcano Haleakala on Maui and received by signal detectors at Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii's Big Island, 92 miles (148km) away.
The Discovery Channel sponsored demonstration was produced in less than five months with less than a million dollars. Sources: http://www.wired.com/2008/09/visionary-beams/ http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1210/1 Launch Costs for the SPS-Alpha
A 500MW system in GEO mass = 34,813,882 kg @ $20,000/kg to orbit, the launch cost >$696B
The mass of a 2MW system in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) would be 232,610 kg @ $20,000/kg to orbit, the launch cost >$4.6B
The transmitter on the GEO system has a mass of 106, 643. Moving the system to MEO could cut the mass of the transmitter by half and the launch cost to >$3.58B
A 2MW system in Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) could be sufficient to supply airships with Liquid Metal Batteries (LMB). http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/716070main_Mankins_2011_PhI_ SPS_Alpha.pdf Middle Earth Orbit based Constellation of Solar Power Satellites Each Day Mean Duration (seconds) Energy_Airship_1-To-MEO_SSP_1 3138 Assume 50% loss due Energy_Airship_1-To-MEO_SSP_2 1865 Energy_Airship_1-To-MEO_SSP_3 1671 to angles and atmosphere Energy_Airship_1-To-MEO_SSP_4 3274
Total 9,948 seconds 2.76 hours
1 MW * 2.76 hours = 2.76 MW-hours = 17% of the 16MW-hr storage capacity Conclusions • First generation of energy air ships provide revenue • Enables development of solar-powered 2nd generation • Eliminates issue of revenue delay to “first light” • Provides franchise opportunities for power plants • Flight plans for air ship fleets can be flexible • Flights can be timed for coverage by a small constellation • Larger constellations provide greater planning flexibility • A constellation of four satellites can “top-off-tanks” by 17% per day • Customers in space: a new generation of LEO satellites with rectennas • When the Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites are not beaming power to the air ships • Future satellites could replace bulky self-shadowing solar arrays with rectennas • Satellites would receive energy each time they pass under a MEO solar power satellite • Customers in the air: cargo delivery electric airships • Solar arrays and rectennas would receive power for the electric propulsion • Electric airships would provide an alternative to trains and ships • Customers on the ground: Fleets of energy storage airships could support • Disaster relief efforts • Temporary remote projects, such as expeditions • Military logistics • Remote villages